


Stanxfemreader: He's Not What He Seems

by loopy_lupita23



Series: Episode based fics [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: F/M, spoilers to episode He's Not What He Seems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-17 02:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4649571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loopy_lupita23/pseuds/loopy_lupita23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You've been working with the Pines family for a while now, the Shack is practically your second home. So when government agents bust up your job and whisk your boss away, you make it your mission to break him out. *This fic has NO relation to my Stanxfemreader series!*</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stanxfemreader: He's Not What He Seems

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic and the fic that follows were basically just my reactions to the new episodes of Gravity Falls. They're not related to my other works but still pretty fun to read so I hope you enjoy them. :)

Stan-x-Femreader- Not What He Seems

A/N: You know, inspiration comes when you least expect it sometimes. Like when you’re working till three AM excitedly awaiting next Monday. Well, someone requested this and honestly for a while I was having a hard time getting past the two-part fics I did prior to this episode but for some reason, my brain really kicked into gear and this idea came into my brain and refused to leave so here it is. This fic is in absolutely **no way** related to any of my preceding stories, it is a stand-alone piece where the reader has been working for Stan all summer and the kids already know her. With that said, hope you’re able to enjoy this. :)

 

-

Ever since you got this summer job, you’re life has been changed. Sure, a little hectic here and there but overall, a fun time. No day is ever the same as the last, always some new venture going on with the Pines family.

Particularly with the head of the house, the self-proclaimed ‘man of mystery’ himself, Mr. Stan Pines.

You smile a little to yourself as you take the turn into the wood leading to your job.

 _Oh yes. Mr. Mystery, at least to everyone else._ You think slyly.

Your employment has been fun in a number of ways, most notably with the secret fling you started with your boss some time ago. No one in the shack is any the wiser to it, it’s actually kind of fun to have some big news under wraps.

No one knows Stan better than you and there’s a certain since of pride that comes with that.

 _Knower of the secrets, that’s me._ The smile on your face morphs into a grin at the thought.

The Mystery shack has been relatively calm lately, not that the people in it ever are. Mable and her friends were pretty psyched about that big fancy-pants party last night, maybe they’ll all be sleeping in for a bit and you can enjoy some alone time with Stan before getting a start on the day.

Ideas of sweet-nothings vanish from your mind as soon as you round the corner of the dirt road. Federal vehicles are swarming the shack, helicopters occupy the sky above and foot-soldiers are everywhere!

 _What the hell-_ Your mind stops short as two cars zoom past. You briefly see Stan in the back of the black SUV, cuffed, banging against the window.

“Stan?!” You say aloud, pulling to the side of the road. You wait as three more cars pass before shifting in reverse and going back to give your car enough space to flip a U.

 _What’s going on? What’s going on?!_ You think frantically as you tail the black cars.

This is so abrupt! Yesterday everything was fine! The past few weeks have even been relatively calm, given how prior to that there was a zombie attack. What **is** all this? And the kids-

 _Oh no. If Stan’s there, then where are they?_ The thought causes you to compulsorily slow in your pursuit of the black vehicles.

Should you go back? Clearly the kids are in the government hands now. Should you try to reason with these men? You technically have no rights to them, what would it help if you did?

You clench your teeth, gripping your steering wheel. _No, my best bet to help them is to help Stan. He can clue me in on this and we can work together to get them back._

With the thought in your head, you involuntarily speed up, tailgating the black car in front of you. Whatever is going on one thing is certain, you’re going to help Stan.

As the cars reach town they all suddenly break formation and split up in different directions. You growl in frustration, great, which one had Stan again? You ditch the car you were following and try to catch up with one of the other bigger vehicles, but it’s no use, they’re starting to blend into the day-to-day traffic of town.

You slam your fist on the steering wheel. “Damn it!”

_Ok, calm down. Let’s think. If they’re splitting up, that means they’re keeping him in town but don’t want to look suspicious by all heading the same place at the same time. So the prison is out. Where in a small hick town like Gravity Falls would government officials most likely hide him…?_

Your eyes widen. “The police station!”

Just as you whip the wheel to turn in the direction of the building a street vendor steps out onto the street.

“Shit!” You hiss, slamming on the breaks so hard the car squeals.

You don’t feel any impact with anything, yet the man before you sudden falls to the ground, though his cart of merchandise is still upright. He begins moaning loudly at the front of your car.

“Oh for God’s sake!” You groan as you jump out of the driver’s seat.

You hurry to the man’s side. He ups the ante with a little choking as he reaches out to you. “Ohhh, so much…pain…need, in-insurance money…”

“Look man, I **know** I didn’t hit you. I don’t have time to dick around so why don’t I just buy a trinket from you and we call it square, ok?” You huff impatiently.

He sits up perfectly at your suggestion. “A trinket? No, no, I sell hand crafted piñatas.”

You look over at his cart that, sure enough, is stacked with various papier-mache animals in a multitude colors.

You sigh heavily. “Ok fine. How much?”

“$50.” He says simply.

“ **Fifty bucks**?!” You screech.

The man throws himself back on the ground with a loud wail. “Ohhhh! The pain, the pain! Might…need police…involvement…”

“Alright, alright!” You snap, grabbing your purse from the car. You throw the money at him uncaringly and snatch the first piñata in your reach.

With your new purchase in the passenger’s seat you continue on your way to the police station. Sure enough, all the black cars are surrounding the area and special ops agents are all over the sidewalk.

You circle around the building to get a good scope of the place and where they all are. It’s no good, they’re all over the place! You park the car a block down from the station and hesitantly approach.

_Ok. Gotta think of a way to get in there…_

You take a deep breath to calm your nerves before marching determinedly to the front door. As you expected, you’re immediately intercepted by an agent.

“Halt! This building is momentarily inaccessible to civilians.” He says in a monotone.

“I was just robbed! I have to get in there and file a police report, this guy is crazy!” you insist and make to push past him.

“You may resume local government actions within the day but right now I must ask you to leave the premises.” He drones.

“You’re making a mockery of civil liberties! What about my rights!” You shout, attempting to dart past him.

But in a flash he’s pulled out a taser and you jump back to avoid it.

“I’m giving you one last chance to leave voluntarily or you will be arrested for disorderly conduct!” He barks.

You growl audibly. “Fine! But when this thief comes around and steals all your high tech gear don’t say no one tried to stop him!”

Fuming, you stomp back to your car. _Well that didn’t work. Now what?_

You’re sure to get out of that agent’s line of vision before turning around and trying a different angle as you approach the next op.

Ok, this time it’ll work. There’s got to be a way to get in there!

-

_Crap. There’s no way for me to get in there!_

You’ve been around to nearly all sides of the building, trying all day to get inside. You’ve tried crying, begging, bribing, flirting and lying to get your way in but the ops are not buying any of it.

Defeated, you slowly make your way back to your car. What else can you do? Maybe if you wait long enough you can catch them when they’re transferring Stan out of the station house. If nothing else you might be able to yell out to him.

 _Man…what am I gonna do?_ You ponder dejectedly as you make your way to the vehicle.

As soon as you open your driver door however, you notice Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland exiting the bakery on your side of the street with a box of goods. The piñata in your passenger seat catches the corner of your eye and in an instant an idea forms.

_It’s stupid, but it just might work._

Before you lose the nerve, you grab the piñata and run to catch them before they cross the street back to the station.

“Wait, officers!” You exclaim.

They both turn with no nonsense frowns.

“I’m sorry miss, we’re on urgent business. We’ll be able to help you with any problems in about five hours.” Blubs says gruffly.

Durland nods, eagerly gripping the boxes of sweets. “Yeah, the special op~er~atives need these to give ‘em strength for their interrogation.”

“Oh no, I understand that. It’s just, well…I just, wanted to say um…ha-happy, uh, worldwide…police officer appreciation day!” You grin hastily after you manage to conjure the lie and hold out the piñata.

Both their eyes widen in surprise and for a spilt second you’re not sure they believe you. But, almost simultaneously they begin to giggle.

“Aww shucks!” Durland titters.

Blubs clears his throat. “I didn’t think anyone in town would remember! What with all these big government folk all over town. You know, we do try our hardest to keep the good people of Gravity Falls safe. We don’t ask for much, but a little recognition is great. Thank you so much, um, I don’t think we caught your name-”

“Er, that’s not important. Look, I brought this to celebrate it with you. I know you’re both on duty and important officers like you need to stay at the station to help these special ops out but worldwide police offer appreciation day only comes around once a year. Is there any way we can go into the station without bugging these guys?” You ask sweetly, carefully placing flattery throughout your words.

The two exchange glances.

“Well, I suppose there’s that _other_ interrogatin’ room they ain’t using.” Durland says slowly.

Blubs smiles. “I can always count on you to know what’s going on in the station deputy.” Then he turns back to you. “Come on, you can get through the front door with us.”

“Wait! Um,” You hesitate, unsure if your scene early will keep the guard up front from letting you in. “I don’t wanna get in the way of all those fancy government people. Besides, they might think I’m snooping if I go in that way. Do you have a back way we can get in?”

Blubs scratches his forehead. “Well, we can go in through the side entrance I guess.”

“Ya’ll go ahead, I’ll just go around takin’ these donuts to the ops and meet ya in the room after.” Durland says kindly before heading off to the front door.

Blubs grins. “Couldn’t ask for a better deputy. You know, I think he deserves this appreciation gift more than me. Come on, we’ll set it up for him and he can go first.”

You and Blubs make your way around to the side of the station house. You avoid looking directly at anyone and stick close to the sheriff’s side. The last thing you need is to look suspicious.

As he fiddles with his keys to get the right one you look up at the skyline. If only you knew how to tell time with the sun. It’s been hours that they’ve had him, who know what they’ve been doing to him. What could Stan have done to get in this much trouble?

“Ah, here we go.” Blubs says triumphantly as he opens the door. He gives a slight bow in your direction. “Ladies first.”

You force a smile, swallowing all your anticipation to keep up the act. “Oh, thank you very much. And here people say chivalry is dead.”

He chuckles at that. “Not around here ma’am.”

There are more ops inside than out. You try to play it cool, pretending you belong there as Blubs leads the way. You don’t want to look around too much and gain attention but you do scan the area for any signs of Stan.

As you turn down a corridor with Blubs the both of you pass a door with a small window. You can only manage a glance, but once you look up you catch a glimpse of Stan, sitting alone at a table looking pretty crushed.

An ache fills your heart at the sight of him, you want nothing more than to burst in the room and get him out of there, but you can’t leave Blubs yet. You need to cement the trust in you being here and think up a smooth way to get back to him.

_At least I know where they have him now._

Stan’s room actually isn’t much further than the ‘other room’ Durland mentioned. The two of you enter the gray, windowless room. Aside from the small window in the big door. You take notice to how cluttered it is, with filing cabinets lining the walls, the desk in the middle of the room and three chairs with boxes stacked on them. Clearly they don’t do much interrogation here.

“Hold on, let me just push this table against the cabinets so we can have room to play the game.” Blubs says.

You decide to help him move things, picking up the boxes from one of the chairs and moving it to the other side of the room. With chair cleared you take a seat and set the piñata on the floor, watching on as Blubs searches the moved desk, mumbling to himself about finding a rope or some kind of pulley system for the piñata.

You glance around anxiously. If only you knew a little more about the situation. Blubs has his back to you still. He’s a low-level official here, but he might know something.

You clear your throat lightly. “Sure is a lot of excitement around here huh?”

“Oh yeah. They found a real bad guy this time. Not the usual run-of the-mill villain we normally catch.” Blubs says indifferently as he pulls a bat from the desk drawer and sets it aside.

“Yeah, I heard. That Stan Pines from the Mystery Shack.” You mull over your next words carefully before speaking. “It must be a real privilege that you and Deputy Durland get to be in on this case. You must be showing exemplary policemen skills, what with how well you both run the town.”

Blubs straightens up with a noteworthy smile. “Well, yeah, we do our duty ma’am.”

“You probably know all about this hoopla huh? I know that Pines can be a shifty character with his shop and all, but I can’t help but wonder what he did to get all this attention.” You look away indifferently, but even from the corner of your eye you can see Blubs thinking it over.

_Come on, take the bait!_

“Yeah…” he says slowly.

You wait, allowing him to debate with himself about letting you in. Flattery is an art, you have to give just the right amount and give it time to sink in before acting on it.

Blubs looks around for a moment before sitting next to you. “…Can you keep a secret?”

Inwardly you grin. _Gotcha._

Outwardly, you fane surprise. “A secret? But I’m just an ordinary citizen, I’m not nearly gifted enough to handle information like you are.”

The smile on his face is too telling. He continues in a whisper. “While that is true, you seem like a pretty upstanding citizen, I’ll let you in on what it’s all about.” From the eager way he leans in it’s obvious to you he’s been wanting to share this secret for a while

“The ops say that Pines has made a doomsday device somewhere in town. They’re searching all over his property for it.” He hisses in your ear.

The surprise on your face is genuine as you pull away from him. “You’re kidding?”

“No, they have evidence of it! And even more than that, they think ‘Stan Pines’ might not even be his real identity. They say he’s got a twisted double life, he’s been pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes and it’s up to us to find his device and shut it down. We’ll be heroes once we get the info from him and he’ll be thrown in the slammer in Washington.” Blubs is practically bouncing in his seat with excitement.

You try to keep a level face but dread is slowly overcoming you.

_Doom’s Day device? Double life? Not really Stan Pines?_

It’s a lot to digest and thankfully Blubs is so giddy about the ordeal he doesn’t take notice to your silence as he goes on, but you barely hear a word he says.

_If Stan isn’t Stan, who is he? Who’s this man I’ve been involved with? Is anything we’ve had real? Should I even be going through these lengths to save him?_

The thoughts are daunting. It hasn’t been a long courtship, but you really thought…after all this time, all the things he’s told you, you really thought you knew the guy. ‘Knower of the secrets’, evidently not.

“-I wonder where Deputy Durland is, it’s been nearly an hour.” Blubs states a little louder, tearing you out of your thoughts.

As though hearing his words, Durland enters the room.

“Sorry ‘bout the wait, there are more people here then I thought.” He says as he shuts the door to the room.

You stand up. “It’s no problem. We couldn’t find a rope to tie it up with, but how’s about we give that old piñata a swing? We’ll just take turns holding it up for the other person to hit it.”

Durland gives you a thumbs up. “Takin’ turns is always a good policy. Who goes first?”

“Well deputy, I think with all the hard work you put in, you should get the honor of going first. You deserve appreciation every day.” Blubs says in a silvery tone.

“Aw nah, you do far more for the town then me, you should get to go first.” Durland insists kindly.

As the two start a back-n-forth on who’s more deserving of the first whack you resist the urge to roll your eyes.

_Really don’t have time for this._

“ **Hey**!” you pipe up, a little more orotund than you initially intended as they both look at you in alarm.

Hastily you laugh to cover it up. “Ha, um, sorry. Look, how about we let fate decide.” You dig out a nickel from your pant pocket. “Heads Blubs goes first, tails Durland. Sounds fair right?”

They exchange looks and shrug, agreeing to the suggestion.

When you flip the coin it comes out heads and you insist that Durland be the one to hold the piñata up. “I won’t be able to keep it from his reach as well as you can.”

_If I’m lucky Blubs’ knock him out and when he’s blindfolded I can sneak Stan out._

“Are you sure? Seems a mite rude to leave you out of the fun.”

You shake your head. “No, no, this is _your_ day. I’ll go last.”

Durland shrugs again. “Ok. Ready Blubs?”

Blubs is giggling a bit as he ties his blindfold over his eyes. “Just a sec. Boy, it’s been a while since I got to smash a piñata! Mind tightening my blindfold? I don’t wanna accidently peek!”

As they get ready for their fun you sit back in your seat, thinking over your plan again.                           

_Ok, I’ll direct Blubs playfully at first then try getting him to aim high enough to Durland’s head. I’ll tell him he’s getting close and then sneak out the door._

“Alright, here we go!” Durland announces as he grabs the piñata and holds it above Blubs’ head.

Just as Blubs held up his bat, however, the strangest thing happened. It had happened earlier that day, but in town they were swearing it was just a small earthquake, but what was happening now as definitely _not_ an earthquake.

It’s an odd feeling, suddenly becoming weightless and lifting up the ground. As you are raised upward you can’t contain a yelp of surprise.

“What the hell?!” You exclaim, grabbing the arms of your chair in an attempt to stay rooted. But as it too goes up you release it.

Durland, to his credit, keeps his hold on the piñata as he goes up into the air. “D-d-don’t panic! The special ops said these ar-are temporary. It’ll stop soon!” he stammers.

Blubs, meanwhile, seems to have taken no notice to the sudden loss of gravity as he walks around the air swing his bat gleefully.

You manage to wiggle or, ‘air-swim’ your way to the wall and use it as a support to work your way to the filing cabinets, which are heavy enough to be only partially suspended. Just as you grip the edge of one the weight of the world turns back on.

You get a little winded as you’re suddenly dropped but thanks to your hold on the cabinet you land on your feet, where Durland falls flat to the floor on his stomach. Apparently he must’ve had the doorknob of something as it swings open with the force of his landing.

Blubs stumbles a little but more or less lands on his feet also and continues waving his bat with a carefree laugh. “Gonne getcha, gonna getcha!”

As you gather your bearings you gasp when you see Stan run past.

You take off after him, sidestepping Blubs and ignoring Durland’s calls for you to come back.

Once you make it outside you see the ops are floored, some even appear unconscious. You scan the area and see Stan paying off a taxi without getting into it. You almost shout out to him but behind you the ops from inside are running up.

You quickly dart out of the way, discretely making your way to the turned over car Stan has ducked behind.

“He’s getting away!” The head man yells behind you. “Obviously follow that cab!”

The ops gather their men and load up in their cars, pursuing the cab without so much as a second glance as Stan gets up and tears in the other direction.

You can’t help the smile on your face or swell in your heart as you follow him. _Damn he’s crafty. I think I love him._

“Stan wait!” You call out, but he doesn’t seem to hear you as he keeps on running. It’s a little impressive that after all that he can still run so fast, but you manage to catch up to him as he passes the block your car is on.

“Wait!” You say again, this time close enough to put a hand on his shoulder.

You’re thankful for your quick reflexes as he suddenly whips around with a punch that you only just manage to dodge. “Whoa! Easy!”

Stan blinks, his mind so set on fleeing it takes him a moment to register your face. He pants your name. “What’re you doin’ here?”

You grin. “Well I was pulling into work when I saw you get taken by those goons so I came to rescue you but apparently you didn’t need it. You sure are a hard one to hold on to huh?”

He doesn’t return your smile and begins to turn back to the direction he was going. “Yeah sure. Listen, I gotta go. Something important is happening at the shack so, goodbye.”

The smile slides off your face. “What? Stan-”

“Look this doesn’t involve you just, go home. I need to go.” He snaps as he starts up into a jog.

“You’re gonna run back to the shack!?” You holler after him.

“Well what choice do I have?” He roars without looking back.

Irritably you put your hands on your hips. “Well if you’d stop being such a dick we could drive back _in my car_!”

He stops short, you wish you could see the look on his face. Stan quickly rushes back to you as you stride confidently to your car that is thankfully still upright. You smirk as he approaches you and unlock the doors with your keypad. “Want my involvement now?”

He doesn’t say anything and instead pulls you into a quick, hard kiss. “Thank you, you beautiful woman! Come on, we gotta hurry!” he says breathlessly when he releases you then runs to the passenger’s side.

You feel a bit dazed but shake it off and jump into the driver’s seat and crank up your car.

-

The drive back to the shack is tense. Stan keeps looking at some strange watch on his wrist and muttering under his breath.

“Are we going as fast as we can? The cops aren’t around, you won’t get busted for going over the limit.” He barks.

You frown. “We’re going as fast as my car will allow. I have mentioned it’s ancient. Probably older than you are.”

He scoffs in reply but says nothing more on the matter.

The sense of dread is starting to overcome you again. What could be going on that he needs to be at the shack so bad? He seems to be running on some sort of time limit.

_Doom’s day device._

The words float back to your mind, making you feel worse. You glance back over at Stan and bite your lip. For months you’ve been getting to know this man in your car, or at least you thought you had. You’ve spent mornings with him, had long talks and then some together, met his family…are they even his family?

“…Stan?” You venture meekly.

He doesn’t respond to you immediately but when he does it’s with that same taunt tone. “What?”

You grip the steering wheel. “Stan, how do you feel about me?”

Stan glares at you roughly. “Seriously? You’re going to bring this up now?”

“I heard a lot of things Stan. I snuck into the police station, Blubs said…you might not even be ‘Stan Pines’.” You say quietly.

He uncrosses his arms at that, his posture relaxing considerably though his face is still tense. “And?”

You shrug lightly. “Well, I doubt getting involved with little old me has any major tie in to some grand doom’s day scheme so it makes me wonder, you know. I mean, I wasn’t expecting a marriage proposal or anything, I don’t mind if this was just a fun time to you, but I would like to know where we stand. Is any of what you said true? Is Stan even your name? Are those kids even your family or just some cover?”

He sighs heavily. “It’s not like that with them. Or with you.” He pinches the bridge of his nose under his glasses frame. “I’ve done some pretty wild things and my life isn’t exactly pitch perfect, but trust me when I say those kids are my family. Everything I do, I do for my family, because I care about them.”

You glance away from the road when you feel his hand on your knee.

“And I do care about you too. Honestly. I don’t have time to explain all the details right now, but I’ll tell you the basics. There is a device at the shack. It _is_ dangerous but it’s the only way to get my family back together. To make us whole again.” He murmurs gently.

You look back at him, so many questions in your mind but before you could ask him any the shack is in view.

Though you start to slow down Stan doesn’t wait, opening the door as you’re going ten and taking a running start from the car, only stumbling slightly.

Quickly you throw the car into park and follow after him. From the outside the shack seems to be shaking but Stan shows no notice of it as he runs in through the gift shop. You keep close behind him as he goes straight to the vending machine, but it’s not there.

Instead, where the machine normal stands is a passageway you’ve never seen before.

He gasps. “Oh no, the kids, they’re down there. Come on!”

You follow swiftly behind him as Stan tears down the passage as though he’d been through it a thousand times before. As you follow behind him you reflect on what he said in the car.

He did seem sincere, more so than you can say you’ve ever seen him before. There was definitely more to this man than you first thought. The emotion in which he spoke about his family…

_And me?_

You don’t know how to feel. Your heart wants to trust and believe him but you’re a skeptic by nature. Is he being genuine? Why all the secrets then? How is his family broken? You’d never seen him look so serious as when he spoke about his reasons…maybe…

Stan is going at a full run down the passageway and when you both reach an elevator he’s impatient in its decent down, his face now torn with worry rather than frustration. You stand silently at his side, unsure what to say or do, but his evident anxiety seems to be catching.

You continue behind him once the elevator hits ground floor. Stan wastes no time, running past some interesting machines down to a doorway with a bright blue light shining from it. You stay at his heels and can hear Dipper’s voice from within the room.

“This all stops _now_!”

Stan rounds into the door way, gripping the edges of the metal to help him come to a stop. “ **Don’t touch that button!** ” he shouts, but then begins to wheeze as all the running seems to have finally caught up with him.

The look of contempt that Soos and Dipper shoot him is alarming to you, though Mable seems more surprised than anything as the both of you enter the room.

You only have a moment to scan the area. The kids are standing in from of some podium with a big flashing red button and behind them appears to be some sort of triangle shaped portal with bright light, the only lighting in the room actually.

Stan walks towards them slowly with his hands raised defensively, pleading with Dipper not to touch the button and shut down whatever that thing is. He begs for his nephew’s trust, but Dipper snaps back harshly, calling him out on his lies and ending with the one statement everyone in the room feels. “-I don’t even know who you are!”

_He’s got a point._

Stan stops at that and stop beside him. He slowly lowers his hands though one seems to still be reaching out to the kids and even from a profile view you can see the hurt on his face, the sting of Dippers words.

It’s a split moment, but it’s enough for you to make up your mind on how you feel about this whole situation.

He shakes off the pain and continues towards, raising his hands back up in defense. “Look, I know this all seems nuts but I _need_ that machine to stay on. If-if you’d just let me explain-”

Suddenly that watch on his arm beeps, he looks at it briefly before turning back to the kids. “Uh oh, brace yourselves!”

That creepy weightless feeling overcomes you as you and the rest of the room let out a yell of terror. It’s stronger this time, taking you all off your feet and when it does the strange portal behind the kids opens, looking less blue and more like some space-hole.

Those with hats on their heads lose them as you all go upward. For a moment you’re afraid that the portal is going to suck you all in, but the pull abruptly stops instead begins pushing you all away from it.

“T- 35 seconds.” A modulated voices chimes.

Stan catches his fez and fits it back on his head as the portal shoots him back towards the entrance. He stammers, trying to catch himself on the wall.

You, meanwhile are shot to the other side, you try to slow yourself down by kicking your legs as the portal pushes you into the dark edges of the room. You grip onto the edge of the wall and steady yourself just as you hear Mable call out to her brother.

She’s the only one who managed to stay around the podium, apparently because her leg is tangled up in a wire close to the area.

“Mable hurry, shut it down!” Dipper calls out to her.

She nods and pulls her way down using the cord around her leg to reach the button.

“No!” Stan yells, pushing off the wall and air-swimming towards her. “Mable, Mable, wait! **Stop**!”

He’s cut off as Soos propels out of nowhere into him. You turn towards the scuffle and push of your wall as well, attempting to fly into them.

“-I have a new mission now, protecting these kids!” Soos says right before you fly into him, you aim a punch to his side as you impact. “Oof!”

“Get off him Soos!” you exclaim then try to pull Soos’ hands from him, as he has Stan in a sort of hug. Even weightless, however, he still too big and it’s even harder to get a hold of him.

Dipper suddenly joins in the fray, pushing you all in the opposite direction as he starts pushing on Stan’s face.

Stan pushes back on Dipper’s stomach and head, trying to pry him off. “Come on-” he mutters under his breath.

You manage to wring one of Soos’ arms off of Stan and begin to wedge yourself in between them as Dipper calls out to Mable again to shut down the machine.

Stan pushes Dipper downward. “No you can’t! You gotta trust me!”

Mable looks back at all of you with pain in her eyes. “Grunkle Stan, I don’t even know…if you’re my grunkle…” she says in a wobbly tone.

Everyone stop moving as you see weightless tears float up from where she’s holding the podium. You wiggle a little closer, “Oh Mable…” you murmur.

She sniffles loudly. “I want to believe you but-”

“Then listen to me!” Stan interrupts, still trying to get free from Soos’ hold on only his arm now. “You remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something-”

“T- 20 seconds.” The mechanical voice interrupts.

You all drop your hold on Stan and scream as the portal suddenly flashes blue so bright it burns your eyes. You don’t get to focus on that pain long however as it suddenly throws you back so hard against the opposite wall you get the air knocked out of you. Soos lands somewhere closer to the floor.

You and Stan hit a pipe against the back wall, denting it and a bit of steam leaks out. Stan’s arms loop around the bent pipe but you only hold it, pulling away a little to relieve the ache of your back from ramming into it.

Mable has her fist over the button.

Besides you Stan closes his eyes shamefully. “I wanted to say that you’re gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of them are true.” He looks to the side for a moment at the true part then immediately looks back to her. “But trust me, everything I’ve worked for, everything I care about, it’s all for this family.”

“Mabel what if he’s lying?! This thing could destroy the _universe_! Listen to your head!” Dipper snaps, pointing to his own head to emphasis his point.

“Look into my eyes Mable, do you really think I’m a bad guy?” Stan implores.

“He’s lying, shut it down now!”

“Mable please!”

Mable looks back and forth between them then her eyes land on you. “Y-you love Grunkle Stan right? What do you think?”

You feel your heart leap into your throat as all eyes in the room go to you. “Uh…I…”

Mable sniffs hard. “I know you do, I see how you are around him. You’re always spending time together, do you think he’s who he says?” she asks thickly.

You glance back to Stan before locking eyes with Mable. You sigh. “Honestly, I have no idea. Like, about anything. I don’t know what any of this is, or who Stan is or even what any of you are talking about but-”

“Exactly!” Dipper interrupts, “You don’t know _anything_! Mable it’s not worth it, just shut it-”

“- **but I do know this!** ” You shout over Dipper.

Stan’s eyes widen a bit as you slowly take his hand. “Whoever this man, whatever he’s saying, he’s a good person Mable and I’ve seen it, he cares, so much for all of us. And I know it’s not an act because, well, you’ve seen his public access.” You smile gently with a shrug.

A tiny smile comes to her face at that, though it’s quickly replaced with doubt.

You frown a little. “I can’t tell you what to do but as for me I…” you turn away from her to look into his eyes. “…I believe him.”

The soft smile on his face doesn’t go unnoticed by you as he locks your fingers together.

“T- 10 seconds. 9, 8-” The machine says penetratingly.

Mabel’s hand slowly lowers over the button, though she’s got her eyes closed. She slowly opens them and looks back to you and Stan. She quickly looks away. “Grunkle Stan…”

The machine continues to count down. “6, 5, 4-”

She releases the podium with her eyes closed and floats up into the air. “I trust you.”

Dipper is furious on the other side of Stan. “ **Mable are you crazy?! We’re all gonna-** ”

“1” the machine says and then the room fills with the light, brighter and more vibrant than ever and the air around you seems to quiver as energy shoots everywhere, the portal rotating so quickly the rainbow colored outline begins to turn white.

“ **Noo!** ” Dipper screams somewhere, but you can no longer see and his voice is soon snuffed out.

Stan lets out a yell and you feel your hands become disjoined. You try to reach back to him but can no longer see as white has completely taken over your vision. You call out his name but it dies abruptly, just as Dipper’s yell did.

You close your eyes, sure that you’ll never open them again.

Suddenly you’re dropped to the ground so hard it busts open your mouth as you land on your face. It’s so dark now, your eyes can’t adjust, and you don’t even know what you’re looking at. You rub your eyes with the heel of your palms and try again.

In the haze of your vision the portal is still active, but far dimmer and in it stands a figure. You blink a few times and squeeze your eyes hard, trying to get them to see properly.

“What? Who- is that?” Dipper breaths somewhere to your right.

You look in that direction to try and see him but you can’t. Not too far away from you, however, you can make out Stan, rubbing his head.

“Stan!” you gasp in relief, inching towards him and grabbing his other arm.

Stan doesn’t even acknowledge you as you come closer beside him. He instead looks up with an awed expression. “The author of the journals…”

You look up to see the man again.

As you do he removes his mask and cloak and a small whimper draws from your throat. Even before Stan completes his sentence, you know what he’s going to say.

“My brother.”

You weakly release Stan’s arm. “A brother…?”

 

-End

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End Note: Alrighty, so that’s it! I hope you all enjoyed that and are as eager as I am to see the next new episode! I’m so excited, for me it’s tomorrow! Eeeek!!! Just so, wow! I’m so, so, so, so, so, _sooooo_ excited you guys! I can’t even- agh! I gotta watch more until it starts, thanks again for reading! :D


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